Part 18 (1/2)

2.

To ill.u.s.trate what I mean, I proceed to take an instance. I will draw the sketch of a candidate for entrance, deficient to a great extent. I shall put him below _par_, and not such as it is likely that a respectable school would turn out, with a view of clearly bringing before the reader, by the contrast, what a student ought _not_ to be, or what is meant by _inaccuracy_. And, in order to simplify the case to the utmost, I shall take, as he will perceive as I proceed, one _single word_ as a sort of text, and show how that one word, even by itself, affords matter for a sufficient examination of a youth in grammar, history, and geography. I set off thus:-

_Tutor._ Mr. Brown, I believe? sit down. _Candidate._ Yes.

_T._ What are the Latin and Greek books you propose to be examined in?

_C._ Homer, Lucian, Demosthenes, Xenophon, Virgil, Horace, Statius, Juvenal, Cicero, a.n.a.lecta, and Matthiae.

_T._ No; I mean what are the books I am to examine you in? _C. is silent._

_T._ The two books, one Latin and one Greek: don't flurry yourself. _C._ Oh, ... Xenophon and Virgil.

_T._ Xenophon and Virgil. Very well; what part of Xenophon? _C. is silent._

_T._ What work of Xenophon? _C._ Xenophon.

_T._ Xenophon wrote many works. Do you know the names of any of them? _C._ I ... Xenophon ... Xenophon.

_T._ Is it the _Anabasis_ you take up? _C._ (_with surprise_) O yes; the Anabasis.

_T._ Well, Xenophon's Anabasis; now what is the meaning of the word _anabasis_? _C. is silent._

_T._ You know very well; take your time, and don't be alarmed. Anabasis means ... _C._ An ascent.

_T._ Very right; it means an ascent. Now how comes it to mean an ascent?

What is it derived from? _C._ It comes from ... (_a pause_). _Anabasis_ ... it _is_ the nominative.

_T._ Quite right: but what part of speech is it? _C._ A noun,-a noun substantive.

_T._ Very well; a noun substantive, now what is the verb that _anabasis_ is derived from? _C. is silent._

_T._ From the verb ??aa???, isn't it? from ??aa???. _C._ Yes.

_T._ Just so. Now, what does ??aa??? mean? _C._ To go up, to ascend.

_T._ Very well; and which part of the word means _to go_, and which part _up_? _C._ ??? is _up_, and a??? _go_.

_T._ a??? to go, yes; now, ?s??? What does ?s?? mean? _C._ A going.

_T._ That is right; and ???-as??? _C._ A going up.

_T._ Now what is a going _down_? _C. is silent_.

_T._ What is down? ... ?at? ... don't you recollect? ?at?. _C._ ?at?.

_T._ Well, then, what is a going _down_? Cat .. cat ... _C._ Cat....

_T._ Cata ... _C._ Cata....

_T._ Catabasis. _C._ Oh, of course, catabasis.